What Matters
by TheSkyToTheGround
Summary: I'd told my brothers that nothing hurt anymore, that the nightmares had stopped, and that I was fine. It was only half a lie, because the last part had been true. Or well, would be true. Soon, because after jumping off this bridge, I would be fine. (IDKW\2k12 verse)
1. Chapter 1: Unlucky Ones

***Everyone has their own opinions, but if yours are mean, my ego is fragile. Just saying.***

 **Disclaimer: I only own TMNT in my dreams. Nothing's mine.**

Mikey's P.O.V

"Donnie, c'mon...please!" "No," Don repeated for like...the 9 hundredth time. "Why not?" I groaned, pulling at his arm. "Because Master Splinter said no one leaves the lair, not after what happened last night." I felt myself get defensive, how was I supposed to know the sewer was gonna be filled with construction workers? I'm not psychic!

"Donnie..." I whined, "it was an accident. I didn't know those dudes were gonna be there at the same time I went for a skate run!" Don rolled his eyes, "your missing the point." He twirled a screw driver in his left hand, "Sensei told us to stay put. He doesn't care if it was your fault or not, he just cares that you almost got seen."

"But I didn't," I reminded him, "so can't we just forget it and move on?" "Tell that to Sensei," Don said. "It's your funeral," "aw...but...what if Master Splinter never finds out?" Don snapped his gaze to me, broken toaster on the table already forgotten. "Mikey..." he said in a warning tone. "We'll sneak out," I sent him my best puppy dog face, oh yeah, Don would be powerless against that.

"That face won't work,"...shell.

"Raph does it all the time," I pointed out. Don dropped the screw driver, "yeah, and then he gets in major trouble for it. Sensei makes him clean the whole entire dojo, and Leo chew his shell off. Do you want to face that?" I felt a shiver run up my spine, damn, an angry Leo? No thank you. But...when I weighed the risks, against my ever-growing boredom...yeah...I was so willing to take the verbal abuse.

God preserve me though, a normal Leo was scary enough. "We won't get caught," I pleaded, clasping my hands together. "We're not Raph, we won't come back at four am. Please Donnie? I promise I'll stay out of your lab for the next week if you say yes." Don's eyes grew to the size of golf balls, "deal." He said quickly, discarding his lab coat.

"But I'm holding you to that." I nodded giddily, practically jumping up and down with excitement. "Yes, yes, yes! Woo! Now let's go!" Don grabbed my arm firmly, "slow your roll there shell for brains. We gotta make sure no one catches us sneaking out first," I shrugged his hand off. "Dude please, I'm a ninja, remember? I got this," I stuck my head around the lab's doorjamb, peering into the empty lair.

"All clear," I said to Don, tip-toeing to the lair door.

"Master Splinter and Leo are probably meditating, and Raph's probably in the dojo, so try not to close the door too loudly." Don sent me a warning look, face serious.

"Hey, no problem," I grinned, holding the door open for him. As we left, I made extra sure to close it extra slowly, like he'd said.

"Alright! Let's bounce, turtles away!" Donnie shushed me, again, "quiet! We're standing right outside the door! And Sensei's hearing is ridiculous, you wanna scream Mikey? Wait 'till we're topside." I sent him a thumbs-up, "will do Dr. Donnie."

He scowled, and started walking, "shut up. Now, follow me. If I'm remembering right, the manhole closest to the alley is...here. Alright, come up after I give you the signal, understand?" Don started climbing the latter, "yup, will do." I sent him my best reassuring smile, he didn't seem too comforted by it though.

I watched in anticipation as he removed the grate, checked both ways, and flashed me a 'go' sign. I climbed up after him, and let out a loud cry the second Don closed the manhole behind us. "Mikey," Donnie hissed. "Wait 'till we're on a rooftop, cars might be passing." I sighed melodramatically, I didn't want to wait more.

"But you said I could scream the second we made it topside!" He started heading for the nearest balcony in the alleyway, "well now I'm saying wait a little longer." Don did a flip onto the balcony's edge, "the last thing we need is for you to be spotted again." I crossed my arms, "it wasn't my fault!"

"Did I say it was?"

"Everyone else is!"

Donnie didn't answer, instead, he just huffed, and extended a hand out towards me. I was very tempted to tell him to shove it back up his shell, or spit on it.

"Get your shell moving," he griped as I latched onto his hand. Pulling me up to the edge of the balcony, we both did a half-flip onto the roof's ledge above us, flawlessly, might I add.

"Now can I scream?" I asked Donnie as we started running, "sure." He replied, speeding up his pace a little. "But make sure I'm out of earshot first, I don't wanna hear your chicken scream."

I frowned, pouting my lips. How dare he insult me? That was a serious offence! Off with his head! "I don't scream like a chicken! Shut up!" Too late, he was already out of earshot. Puffing out my chest, taking this as a direct challenge, I let a scream go.

I didn't sound like a chicken, it was high-pitched, sure, but nothing sounding even remotely like a bird. Ooh Donnie, you were gonna pay for that. Charge! I sped up my pace as well, until I was right behind him, never stopping my screaming. He didn't like it? Well then, he was gonna hear it up close and personal. That'll teach him to insult me! Me, of all people!

"Mikey! Stop it! That's irritating!"

 _That's exactly why I'm doing it, Donnie._

I was about to jump onto his shoulders, when the worst thing in the world happened, my cell rang.

Damn it, I forgot to leave it at home. Aw shell. Screeching to a stop, and closing my mouth, I pulled the cell out of my pocket. Don had come to a stop too, and was now leaning over me. "Who is it?" He asked, out of breath from running. I was out of breath too, from running, and screaming. Okay, last time I ever do that again, it felt like my lungs were going to collapse.

"Shell, Raph." I saw the number flash across the screen, and I looked up at Donnie for instructions.

"Should I answer?"

Don looked at me like I was stupid, "no way! Are you insane? He'll know something's up right away! You know you suck at lying, especially to Raph!"

Well...yeah, I wasn't the best liar, and Raph just had a way of making me spill my guts. Probably cause he was so scary, and he had this tendency of hitting people if they didn't answer him truthfully the first time. Man, we were in trouble.

"Okay...so I won't answer," I was about to put the phone away, when Donnie snatched my hand.

"That's an even worse idea! Knowing Raph, he'll go check up on us if we don't answer, and when he sees we're not in our rooms, he'll tell Sensei. We're caught either way! Just...just answer it, and if you see you can't handle lying to him, pass the phone to me. Shell, we're so doomed."

 _Ugh...I don't feel like having to clean the dojo!_ Why did Raph have to be so freakin' nosy?

Sighing, I answered the call, and did my best to act casual. At least I wasn't face to face with him, the only thing worse then having to talk to Raph, was having to make eye contact with him.

"Hey Raphie!" I felt sweat begin to run down my forehead, looking at Donnie out of the corner of my eye, I saw him chewing on his skin. Jeez, that was reassuring.

"Mikey, where are ya?"

I swallowed a hiccup, racking my brain for an answer that wouldn't screw us.

"Just hanging out with Donnie," I said vaguely, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

"I asked where," oh shell, he already sounded irritated. Perfect, great job Mikey.

"Oh...we're just...down by the old sewer plant. Don's setting up some new security thingy down there to monitor the place, and I was bored, so I followed him." Donnie sent me a thumbs-up at the lie, and I felt a little bit of relief creep into my chest. If Donnie thought I was doing fine, then I was doing fine.

"Sensei told us ta not leave the lair," Raph pointed out.

I froze, almost puking right there and then. Crap, why did Raph have to have this affect on me? Lying to Leo would've been easier!

"I know, but Donnie said that after the...uh...incident last night, he wanted to monitor the whole sewer system, so that next time I wanted to go skateboarding, he'd know if anyone were around the sewer to see me."

Raph was quiet for a long time, and I almost lost it. Almost started crying like a baby right there and then, yeah, I was pathetic, what was I gonna do? But before I could start unraveling, Raph let out a tired sigh.

"Whateva, just get back here soon, kay? Leo's gonna throw a hissy fit if he finds out ya left without tellin' him."

I sent out a silent prayer to whoever was listening, "okay. No problem dude, we'll be back in ten."

"Before ya go, I wanna talk ta Don."

Crap...so close, I turned to Donnie stiffly, and motioned for him to take the phone. His gaze went between me and the phone, and then back again, like he was having trouble processing. I stuck the cell in his hands, and mouthed the words, 'he wants to talk to you' to him. His face broke out into an expression of panic, well, nice to know I wasn't the only one terrified of Raph.

"Hey Raph," Don spoke after a couple of beats. "How goes it?"

I heard a chuckle on the other end of the line, "fine. Just wanted ta make sure Mikey wasn't bluffin' about bein' with ya. Don't need him runnin' around the sewer by himself again."

Donnie forced a small laugh, "yeah...wouldn't that be terrible. Um...so...listen, I gotta go...complete the installation of the new monitors, we'll...uh...see you once it's done."

I heard Raph yell at somebody in the background, something incoherent and not that nice.

"You talking to Leo?" Don asked.

"Yup. Fearless is watchin' another one of his stupid shows again. Kill me now. Anyway, I'll see ya soon. Lemme just tell Leo you're fine, before he blows up at me. But don' hang up just yet, he'll probably wanna talk to ya."

Donnie's face blanched, so did mine. Why, why God...why did you have to do this to us?

"Alright," Don answered. "I'll pass you Mikey, he'll talk to Leo...I've got a system to finish installing." As the phone went silent, I slapped Don on the shoulder.

"Throw me under the metaphorical bus why don't you?" Donnie shrugged, "better you than me. Besides, it's Leo, your not scared of him too, are you?" I chocked on my own spit, "no." I replied indignantly, "I'm not scared of anyone." Donnie handed me the phone, "yeah you are. And Raph's at the top of the list." I stuck my tongue out at him, "oh shut up."

"Mikey? Who are you telling to shut up?" Shell Leo, you've got the worst timing.

"Oh...just Donnie, he's geek-speaking me to death." Don sent me a glare at that, hey, don't pass me the phone if you don't want me making jokes about you Donnie.

"I bet he is," Leo laughed. "So, Raph told me you guys are setting up more security near the sewer plant?"

I chuckled nervously, my heart hammering in my chest. _Curse my inability to lie well under pressure_.

"Yeah...Don thought it was a good idea-"

I heard a whistle on Leo's end of the line, followed by a loud crash. Probably Raph, throwing the remote at the T.V, then pretending to be innocent.

"RAPH!"

Yup, I was right.

"Shell Raph, it took me forever to download those to the VCR."

There was an awkward silence on his end of the line, "I don't care if you don't like them you hot-headed idiot! I had to beg Master Splinter to let me use his DVD space to-RAPH! STOP IT RIGHT NOW! OW! OH...THAT'S IT!"

There was a loud bang, followed by a scream. I looked at Donnie, and he shrugged carelessly. Well, Leo and Raph were fighting again, shocker.

Hanging up the call, and putting my phone away, I let out a deep breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. "Well, we got away with that one."

Donnie nodded, "yeah, barely. C'mon, we've got ten minutes of freedom before they'll be expecting us back...race you?" I felt my signature goofy grin make it's way to my face, oh, it's so on Donnie.

"Already running dude," I gave him a hard shove, sending him back a couple of feet, before taking off. I made it to the next rooftop before he did, laughing the whole way.

"Mikey!" He cried, sprinting to catch up.

I was still ahead of him by the time I made it to the next rooftop, meaning, I saw the giant horde of Foot ninjas before he did.

Skidding to a stop, my grin disappeared. Shell, we really did have the absolute worst luck in the world.

Donnie crashed into my back a second later, not knowing why I'd stopped. "Mikey, what's the hold-" he stopped talking when he saw what I was looking at. "Aw...shell," he groaned, getting his bo staff out. I reached for my nun chucks, but stopped short when I realised I didn't have them on me.

"Shell...Donnie, I forgot my chucks back at the lair." Don's jaw dropped, "you idiot! Why would you go anywhere without them? Why didn't you grab them before we left?"

I grimaced, okay, insults weren't very helpful Don. "I'm sorry, I just forgot."

Don took a protective step in front of me, guarding me with his staff. "Alright, then I'll hold them off, you, find a weapon. A cracked bottle, a piece of pipe, whatever. I can't do this alone," "you couldn't do it even if your freak brothers were here with you." Oh no...Razhar.

The giant wolf-man stepped in front of all the other Foot ninjas. Taking a position at the very front of the pack, well, this was going South really fast...crap...where was a piece glass when I needed one?

"What're you doing here Razhar?" Don growled, "the full moon isn't for another three weeks." Razhar growled loudly, gritting his abnormally sharp teeth, muscles tightening, like he was readying himself to pounce.

"Uh...Don," I tapped him on the shoulder. "I don't think instigating the unstable, lunatic wolf-man, with a pack of Foot drones behind him, when I don't have a weapon, and when we're all by ourselves, is the best thing to do."

Donnie arched his back, trying to look back at me while still keeping a visual on the bad guys standing in front of us.

"I'm sorry! I'm under a lot of pressure over here." He whispered to me, "and when I'm under pressure, I trash talk." "Then develop a different nervous tick," I replied, and he glowered at me.

 _Don't glower at me Donnie, glower at the tall as shell, crazy nut job in front of us._

"Stop talking," Razhar hissed, "I've had enough of talking. Foot, attack!" And cue all shell breaking loose, okay, I've gotta find a weapon.

Donnie blocked any oncoming attacks aimed for me, but I could already tell fighting for two was taking a lot out of him, and the fight has only just begun. _Alright Mikey, think, there's probably something you could use to defend yourself in the alley below you, yeah...perfect, just gotta get away from these drones trying to take my head off first._

Doing a flip over two incoming guys, I shoved them both off the ledge of the building, before jumping off of the ledge myself. _Okay...weapon...weapon...aha!_ I picked up a rusted piece of pipe from a nearby dumpster down in the alley below the rooftop where we'd gotten ambushed. It wasn't ideal, but it would help.

Hopping back onto the roof, I saw Donnie was completely overwhelmed. _Oh no you don't_ , I whacked the nearest Foot ninja next to him with the pipe. _No way are you lunatics getting a hit on my big brother, especially you, drone with the really wandering hands_.

I smashed a few more of their heads in, and the fight was just starting to get enjoyable, when I felt a sharp claw poke the back of my neck. Crap...Razhar...I'd forgotten about you...shell, why are you always picking on me? "Turn around, freak." I did as he said, staring him right in his ugly mug of a face.

"Who're you calling a freak, with that hideous muzzle of yours?" His nostrils flared, and he furiously swiped a hand at me, which I swiftly dodged, three points to me.

"That the best you got doggie?"

"Shut it!" He roared, leaping at me in a flurry of bared teeth and claws. Oh snap, I made him mad, whoops.

Back flipping out of the way, Razhar went hurtling over the roof's edge, barely catching himself before he fell. _Alright_ , this wasn't that bad, I could so keep this up. All I had to do was continue dodging his attacks, maybe land a hit here and there, and I'd be fine-OH SHELL.

I barely managed to twist out of the way in time to avoid getting my head chopped off, _dang Razhar, where'd you get that machete? Oh wait...no...those were his claws...crap._

As he went in for another attack, I lifted the piece of pipe over my head to block myself. It ended up smacking him right in the nose! Hell, talk about lucky. Woo...alright, another three points to me. Hey, this is going better than I thought it would, is our luck finally turning around?

As Tiger Claw and Fish Face suddenly appeared out of nowhere, I decided that no, our luck wasn't turning around. And then, when the Shredder magically came on the scene, I realised that the world simply hated us, and was therefore playing a cruel joke on us.

Cause come on, what did Donnie and I do to deserve this?

"Uh...Donnie," I swallowed thickly, and looked at my brother, who had finished with the Foot ninjas who'd been swarming him.

"What is it now-oh...oh this isn't good...this is very not good. We've gotta get out of here, head for the nearest manhole cover Mikey, now, we can't take them all on-"

"Nice to see you again, turtles."

Donnie was cut off by Tiger Claw wrapping a hand around his throat, squeezing tight enough I could practically see the air leaving him.

I freaked, dropping the pipe. "NO!" I cried, and without thinking, I jumped onto Tiger Claw's back.

Roaring, he shook me off, and I went flying across the roof, into the fire escape. But hey, at least he'd let go of Donnie.

"Well, Stockman was right." Fish Face approached me, mechanical legs making a Hell of a lot of noise. Dang, wasn't anyone else hearing this?

"He said that if we patrolled the roofs every night, we were bound to find you one of these days. And after last night's news, I guess we got lucky."

Shell, they saw the news last night? Well, there goes the neighborhood. Aw man, why did they have to have all the luck, why was it always the bad guys?

"I'm gonna enjoy this, turtle." Fish Face took out the pocket knife he always carried, and was about to swipe it across my face, when Razhar intervened.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? The orange one's mine, take the purple one instead."

"Stockman's already got dibs on him," Fish Face reasoned.

"Well, then tell Stockman to shove his 'dibs' up his-"

"Enough!" Shredder's loud voice silenced everyone, even the crickets seemed to stop chirping.

"I decide what happens to the freaks," Shredder advanced in on Donatello, and I tried desperately to get to my feet. But shell, it hurt too much to move. I couldn't.

"These two come back to the lab with me, their brothers will come to look for them, and then when I have them all, you can all have your turns."

I gulped, not really wanting to know what he was referring to, but by the sound of it, I'm guessing he didn't mean turns at hopscotch.

"What about the rat?" Tiger Claw asked, "he will be next." Shredder rubbed his hands together, like one of those megalomaniac characters in those cheesy superhero movies. Man, was he creepy.

"He will eventually come to rescue his sons, and he'll meet his death when he does."

My chest tightened, and I felt the stinging burn of tears strike my eyes. Master Splinter...no...that wouldn't happen, I just had to stay positive... _think positive Mikey_...no one was gonna die...not if I could help it.

"Now, grab them and let's get out of here. The sun will be up soon."

Wait...what? Last I knew...it'd been midnight when we'd left the lair...how was it almost five in the morning already? Crap...Leo and Raph must be freaking...well, wasn't that the icing on the cake?

Razhar came up to me, a feral smile on his lips, and hoisted me over his right shoulder like I was a sack of potatoes. Oh no...they're taking us back to...wherever their new hideout is.

 _Donnie_...oh shell, where's Donnie?

Swiveling my head to the side, I spotted him, unconscious, limp over Tiger Claw's shoulder.

 _No...no...Donnie!_ I hadn't even noticed he'd passed out...oh...Shredder was so gonna get it.

I felt anger begin coursing through me, which was rare, because I was rarely mad. But when someone messed with my family, well then, they had the full wrath of Michelangelo the super turtle in store. Shredder better not lay a hand on Donnie, or he'll be sorry, even if I have to go through Razhar, Fish Face, and Tiger Claw to get to him. With that thought in mind, the last thing I remembered before everything went black, was seeing Fish Face come up beside me, with a really big needle in his hands...er...fins.

Well, this just keeps getting better and better.


	2. Chapter 2: Should We Be Worried?

***Well, exams are ending. So I'm in a good mood. Which means...DUN DUN DUN...MORE UPDATES! Cause I've got no social life whatsoever.***

 **Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT, if I did, I wouldn't be writing my stories here. Nothing's mine**.

Raph's P.O.V

God, they weren't here, ugh...where were they? I was gonna kill both of em' when I got my hands on em'. For lyin', and for scarin' the shell outta me. They weren' at the sewer plant, and there hadn' been any proof that they'd ever been there at all. Leo almost had a mental breakdown, which said something, Fearless never lost it like that.

But hey, a while later, and here I was, about to have the same thing.

After leavin' the sewer plant, we'd gone to check topside, figurin' that that was the only other place they could be. But we'd been searchin' for almost five hours, and still nothin'. Leo was next to me, running his hands across his face like he was about to cry.

"Raph," he started, and I sent him a death glare, already knowin' what he was about to say.

"No," I snapped.

"Look, we've been searching all night...and the sun will be up any minute. Now, I want to find them too, but we have to go home, we can't be seen."

I shook my head forcefully, if he wanted me ta stop lookin' he'd have ta drag me back ta the lair by my shell. "I don' care," he shot me an incredulous look. "You can head back if ya want, but I'm not stoppin' 'till I find our brothers and bring 'em home."

Leo sighed sadly, a long, tired one. Aw shell, this must be hard on him too, damn...maybe I should ease up a little bit.

"Okay...how 'bout...just another half hour, hmm? Then we go back." He didn' answer, just stared at the ground lookin' like he got hit by a bus, totally and completely drained.

Man, I shouldn' be givin' him a hard time...not when he was probably feelin' all guilty about it. Like he shoulda known, shoulda guessed, shoulda stopped Mike and Don from leavin'...or whateva passes for logic in Leo's head these days.

"Hey...this ain' your fault," I don' know why I said it, but it felt like somethin' I just had ta say...for his benefit anyway.

"Look, they snuck out, left without tellin' ya. You couldn' have stopped em'." Leo clenched his hands into fists, "what about you? Huh? Do you blame yourself?" I looked down at my feet, crackin' my knuckles, and not knowin' what ta say. Man, low blow Leo.

"This ain' 'bout me," I bit out. "Just...just don' blame yourself...alright? Now c'mon, another half hour of lookin', then we can call it quits." Leo rubbed his eyes dejectedly, "okay. We'll try looking North this time." I nodded, "sounds good ta me."

Just as we were about ta sprint off to the next rooftop, Leo's phone rang. Groanin', I stopped, and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Leonardo," I heard Masta Splinta's voice on the other end of the line.

"What is it Sensei? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing serious my son. But Miss O'Neil and Mr. Jones have showed up."

Leo smacked his forehead, "shell. I forgot they were supposed to come over early this morning...ugh...okay...we're on our way. Tell them to stay put," I slapped him on the shoulder the second he hung up. "What the shell was that?" "April and Casey are at the lair Raph, we've gotta head back."

Oh, I was so tempted ta tell him ta shove it up his shell, and ta go home without me. But then I remembered his expression from before, and stopped myself. Argh...alright, Fearless gets a break this time.

"Fine," I growled. "But the extra half hour we were supposed ta search tonight, is carrying ta tomorrow."

Leo shrugged, "fair deal. Now c'mon, let's go."

* * *

"Hey, you guys are back." Casey practically pounced on us the second we got in the lair, what, was he goin' stir crazy or somethin'? It was a sewer after all.

"April's off doin' somethin' with Splinter, I don' know what they're talkin' 'bout. Glad you two got here quick though."

Leo sent me a look, and I nodded my head once, already knowin' what Fearless was askin'. Should we tell him 'bout Mikey and Don bein' M.I.A? Yeah, he's family, we should.

"Sorry about forgetting you were coming," Leo apologized. "But Mikey and Don are missing, they left last night...or...well...earlier today, since it was midnight. And we talked with them, but they weren't back when they said they'd be. We looked for them too, but couldn't find them. We also tried calling again, no one picked up."

Casey's face turned sour, "man. That ain' good. Your Sensei seemed pretty down too when we got here this morning', maybe that's what he's talkin' to April 'bout." "Probably," Leo agreed, putting his swords away on a nearby weapons rack.

"We wanted to keep looking for them, but the sun's out, we'll get spotted."

"Sucks dude," Casey turned ta me. "If ya want, I can go lookin' for 'em. April too, we're not mutants." He grinned, shell, I hate when he grins like that, makes me wanna smack him upside the head.

"Could ya?" I asked him, "it'd just make me feel better if I knew someone was out lookin' for 'em."

Casey's grin widened, "you softie Raph." I punched him on the shoulder, shooting him a glare.

"Shaddup."

"But we really would appreciate it if you'd look," Leo jumped back in. "Thanks Casey."

Casey waved him off. "No sweat, Mike and Don are just as much my family as they are yours."

"Mine too," April's voice startled us all as she walked into the room, whoa...when did she get that quiet? Masta Splinta's lessons must really be helpin' her.

"Splinter told me everything," as we thought he would. "Don't worry, we'll find them." April laid a comfortin' hand on Leo's arm.

"We're not worried," Leo assured her. "Mike and Don can take care of themselves, and it's only been six hours. They've done this before, taking off without telling us, then coming back after a day. They're probably in some junkyard, Don said he was installing new security measures at the old sewer plant near here when we talked to him last, he most likely just needed a spare part."

April smiled softly, that smile that always made Don go crazy, damn, too bad he wasn' here to see it. "Well, we'll still look." She walked over to Casey, and started pushin' him towards the door. "Call us if there's anything," with that, they both left.

"Well," Leo motioned towards the dojo. "How about some sparring? We didn't get to last night," I raised an eye-ridge at him. "If ya think ya can take me Fearless, let's go." I dropped my sais on the couch, and headed to the dojo.

Hand ta hand was always funner than when we fought with our weapons. More intense, and it meant I could hit him harder. Which was a bonus.

As I stretched on one of the warm up mats, I decided to ask the question that was on my mind. "So, you're really not worried 'bout Donnie and Mikey?" Leo froze mid-warm up.

"No, I am." He answered truthfully, I snorted. "Then why'd ya tell April and Case that ya weren' worried before?"

He shrugged, gettin' on his knees. "Didn't want them to think it was serious, if I got all jump-to-conclusions on them, they'd panic more. I had to act calm, besides, it probably is nothing to worry about."

I clenched and unclenched my hands, flexin' my fingers and rotatin' my wrists too. "If ya say so," he looked at me curiously. "You're worried?" I rolled my eyes, "not worried exactly...just concerned. It's Mikey and Donnie for cryin' out loud, so much could go wrong when they're alone."

Leo rolled his neck and popped his shoulders, "well...yeah. But still, Don's smart, with him there, I'm sure they can't get into anything that bad. Hey, at least it isn't Mikey all by himself, then we'd have something to be worried about." He had a point, a fairly good one.

"Whateva, I just got this really weird feelin' is all."

Leo stood to his full height, done with his warm ups. Damn, I hated that he was taller than me. I hated that Don was taller than me too. If Mikey ever grew a couple more inches, shell, I'd slam him. No way was I gonna be the shortest turtle in the family, no way.

"It's probably nothing, don't worry about it. So, you ready?" Leo got into a fightin' stance, and I moved ta do the same. "Ready," I said, lickin' my lips. This was gonna be fun.

We bowed ta each other, then the fight began.

Leo attacked first, doin' a cartwheel and then shootin' his leg out to try and side-kick me. I dodged it without much trouble, throwin' out a punch the second he'd caught his breath. It didn't make much contact, and unfortunately, he recovered from it pretty quick. Grabbin' my outstretched hand, he used his strength to flip me over his shoulder.

I landed on my knees, and sprung back up right away. Not waitin' for him to turn around, I took advantage of the situation, and swiped a leg under him from behind, almost laughin' when he went tumblin' to the floor in a heap.

Suddenly, he got back up so fast I didn' even have time to blink. Then before I knew it, I was the one on my back, and he was lying on top of me, grinnin' like a maniac.

"One, two, three." He counted, actually chucklin'. How dare he, he was laughin' at me, actually laughin' at me! Why, I oughtta..."you look like you want to strangle me." Leo broke off my train of thought.

"Yeah." I told him angrily, tryin' and failin' ta push him off me, "I do." "You can try if you want to," he eased up his grip on my chest slightly. "But just a warning, the second you even attempt it, I'm going to grab your hand, and twist it back over your head, and then flip you over. We can see where that goes from there," I mumbled a couple of curses under my breath.

Stupid Splinta Junior, and his ridiculous lightenin' fast reflexes. _Screw him_ , screw him and his obsession with bein' perfect and always beatin' me.

"What, you're not going to go for it?" I growled lowly, grittin' my teeth together as he kept on tauntin' me. Didn' he know when ta quit?

"You seem fed up, and you're ignoring me. So, I'm going to take that as my cue to shut up and get off you, before I lose some teeth." Okay, I couldn' help it, I cracked a smile. Funny, how he could piss me off so bad one second, then make me smile the next. "Wise of ya," I said as he got off me.

Standin' up, he reached out a hand, as if wantin' to help me up. I promptly ignored it, and got up myself. Dustin' off my shell, I refused ta meet his eyes.

"Well, it just got a lot colder in here." He said lightly, crossin' his arms, "why do you always have to be a sore loser?"

"Shaddup," I snapped at him, not havin' any other comeback ready. _Shell_ , I shoulda thought of a few before comin' in here ta spar with him.

"That the best you can do?" The urge to punch him was so strong, it actually physically hurt me to hold back.

"How 'bout ya eat me Leo?"

He tilted his head to the side, as if considerin' it. "No thanks, I think I'll just go grab some tea instead." He started leavin', "hey...you want something to eat? Shell for brains you are, you didn't get any breakfast this morning," I touched my plastron, and felt my face heat up as my stomach grumbled loudly. "I'll take that as a yes." Leo said smugly, already headin' towards the kitchen.

Damn Mikey, you really chose the wrong time of day to disappear, coulda really used your pancakes this mornin' when I woke up...even if you do always mix up a bunch of other crap in there with the batter.

"Just reheat some of last night's pizza," I called to Leo as I followed him into the kitchen. "Which kind? We've got peperonni, sausage-" "the pineapple one," Leo screwed up his face distastefully. "Right, forgot you're the only one of us that likes that kind."

I glared daggers at his back as he played with the buttons on the microwave, "hey. Don't trash pineapple pizza, it's a gift from Heaven." Leo snorted, "you believe in Heaven now?"

"Just get me the pizza," I snapped, leanin' against the kitchen counter. "And try not ta break the microwave this time, it took Don forever ta fix it last time. Y'know, since he had ta fix the toaster you broke too?" Leo sent me a dark look, oh, did I hit a nerve Fearless?

"Yeah, yeah." Leo sighed in exasperation, turning to me ta hand me the pizza . "Find it as funny as you want, Mike gave me so much trouble when it happened. He wouldn't shut up about it for a whole week."

I smirked, "neither would Splinta." Leo sucked in a deep, calm breath, and took a long sip of his tea, damn, how could he drink that crud? It tasted terrible.

"Yeah...seeing Sensei laugh at my expense wasn't my highest point," Leo ran a hand over his face, as if tryin' ta wipe the memory from his mind. "It was a dark day," "maybe for you." I laughed, polishin' off my piece of pizza quickly, then having another two slices.

Just as I was about to go for a fourth, my cell rang. "Damn it," I wiped off my hands, and pulled the thing outta my pocket. "Who is it?" Leo asked curiously, "Casey." I frowned, looking at the number. What could that bonehead possibly want? We just saw him like ten minutes ago.

"What does he want?"

"Don' know yet," I answered it on the fifth ring, when I realised he wasn' gonna stop callin'.

"What?" I hissed into the line, not even tryin' to keep the annoyance outta my voice.

"Well, nice ta hear your voice too sunshine, did ya miss me?"

"Not even a little."

"Great. Well, I wasn' plannin' on callin' ya. But...April and I found somethin'...Raph...you and Leo are gonna wanna get down here and check this out for yourselves. I think Don and Mike got into more trouble then ya think," _okay_...now he had my attention.

"What did ya find Case?"

"I can' exactly explain it over the phone-"

"What did ya find?" I repeated, harder this time, feelin' anger mixed with fear rise inside of me.

"Well...I'll try ta explain it as best I can, but...it's really bad. April and I were searchin' a couple places we thought Don and Mike might be at, but we didn' find nothin'. So, we were gonna give up, and head back to her place, when we crossed this alley...and...we smelled blood Raph."

 _Oh God._ I felt my hand clench and unclench around the phone, a sudden need ta snap somethin' surgin' within me. "Then what happened?"

I could see Leo comin' over ta me out of the corner of my eye, his expression worried. He pressed his ear next to mine, hopin' ta hear the conversation for himself.

"We went to check out was it was, see if it was really blood or just motor oil...what we found was way scary."

Please don't be headin' where I think this is headin', I pleaded silently. Prayin' to whoever the Hell was out there, that this wasn' what I thought it was. Of course, no one ever freakin' listened ta my prayers.

"What did ya find Casey?" I was practically seethin' now, and he seemed to hear the edge in my voice right away.

"We found a trail of the stuff Raph, a trail of blood. Leadin' from one of the rooftops not too far from the lair, ta almost all the way across town. The trail just stops there, at this abandoned warehouse. April and I already checked the place out before callin' ya, it's deserted."

At this point, Leo snatched the phone away from me. Either cause he saw my ever-growin' anger, and that I was about to snap the phone in half, or cause he wanted ta talk with Case himself. My guess was a little bit of both, cause I really was about ta lose it.

"Which rooftop?" Leo barked into the phone, his eyes screamin' things he was too reserved ta actually yell. I didn' catch Casey's response, not over the roarin' in my own head.

Mikey and Don...their names just kept repeatin' themselves over and over, like a broken record. _They better be okay, cause I swear, I'll burn the whole fuckin' world down lookin' for 'em._

"Let's go," Leo touched my shoulder, bringin' me back down ta earth. "Casey said they're not too far away, and that there's almost no chance of us getting spotted, they're close enough to the lair for it not to be a major risk. C'mon." I followed him wordlessly, too pissed off ta even nod my head.

He handed me back my phone, and the only thing I can think of is that Mike had called me last night.

I'd talked to him, and Don, had that been right before they'd disappeared? Shell, I shoulda went ta meet up with them then, instead of stayin' here and twiddlin' my thumbs uselessly. I coulda stopped this from happenin', maybe then, they'd be with us now instead of bein' missin'.

With that thought in mind, I slammed the lair door hard on the way out.

We were out of the sewer in under ten seconds, and topside in half that. We found Casey and April pretty fast, they really weren' that far away. Which only made me feel worse, knowin' my brothers got taken only four rooftops away from our home. Awesome.

Casey waved over at us, and April ran to meet us halfway. "You guys have to see this," she grabbed Leo's hand and pulled him behind her.

She lead us to an old, rusted fire escape, and what I saw made me freeze. Blood, lots of it. And somethin' else, that Casey had neglected to mention ta me over the phone. Don's bo, snapped in half, was lyin' amongst all the blood.

Now, I considered myself ta be a pretty tough guy, but seein' all this blood, made me wanna puke. Seein' my little brother's bo cracked in half, and not knowin' where he was, made me wanna faint while I puked.

"Oh my God," Leo bent down to pick up Don's broken bo.

"This is how we found it when we arrived," April shot Casey a look. "We didn't touch or move anything."

"Did anyone see you guys come up here?"

April shook her head, "no. No one."

Leo nodded contently, and took out his cell, pressin' a couple of buttons on it, he scanned Don's bo, and then shoved the phone back in his pocket with a satisfied smile on his face.

"You gonna search it for prints?" I asked him, already knowin' what he was doin'. Leo tried to smile at me, but it ended up lookin' like a scowl.

"Yeah, if someone broke his bo, there should be prints. I've seen Donnie do this tons of times before."

I crossed my arms, "so what do we do after we check the prints?" Leo moved away from April, getting closer to me. "We turn this entire city upside down for the guy who did this, and we find our brothers. Then, we make him pay." I smirked, liking how he was bein' vindictive for once.

"Well, y'know I'm on board," I patted his arm.

"So am I," I looked over Leo's shoulder at April, whose face had turned steely and determined. _Aw shell_ , we had no shot at changin' her mind now. I'd seen that look on her face before, it was impossible to stop her from doin' somethin' when she got that look on her face.

"Count Casey Jones in too," oh...great. Now we had two more people we had ta worry about, peachy.

"Guys, this could be dangerous-"

"Screw dangerous." Casey said angrily, "Mike and Don are important ta us too, the son of a bitch who did this is gonna learn you don' mess with our family and get away with it."

April crossed her arms, "yeah. Besides, you guys know you can't stop us."

Leo sighed in defeat, rubbing his temples, somethin' he did when he was on the verge of blowin' a gasket. "Okay," Leo grumbled, lookin' at me for my input.

I gave him a curt nod, and that was all he needed. We left the roof with new determination, ta find whoever did this, teach him a lesson, and get Mikey and Don back.

I felt someone's eyes on me as I left, but figured I was just bein' paranoid... _no one's followin' us, I must be imaginin' it._


End file.
